Elections in Brazil: the era of Jair Bolsonaro begins
On October 28, the popular vote elected Jair Bolsonaro as the new president of Brazil
Jair Bolsonaro is the new president of Brazil. He won over Fernando Haddad, the left-wing option of the Workers' Party (PT). His triumph is not surprising, he achieved 55.13% compared to 44.87% achieved by his opponent. Before suffering the attack by an opposition protester, while he was conducting his presidential campaign, he led the polls.
Leer en español: Elecciones en Brasil: comienza la era de Jair Bolsonaro
However, another extra push helped him when the former president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, was denied his candidacy. At the time, Da Silva was leading the polls and it seemed like another opportunity for the former president imprisoned for corruption. From the moment that Fernando Haddad was appointed as a presidential candidate, the voting intention gap between him and Bolsonaro grew.
Among the sympathy for the attack, the fatigue of Brazilians for the corruption of the party that had ruled the country for more than 10 years, Bolsonaro broke through to be the solution within the country's difficult political landscape.
Despite his strong statements and positions against women, homosexuals, and his authoritarian style when it comes to politics, Bolsonaro seduced Brazilians and will face the challenge of governing in a deeply divided country. Their voters hope that the former army captain "manages to clean up the institutions of corruption," as El Mundo indicates.
Read also: Elections in Brazil: These are the candidates' political proposals
When ratifying his victory, the first declarations of the new president were "I am going to govern next to the Constitution", corroborating his style of right-wing government. He also affirmed that "All together we are going to change the destiny of Brazil," the winner of the election told his eight million followers on Facebook. "We cannot continue to flirt with socialism, with communism, populism or leftist extremism."
The Bolsonaro era begins and with it comes hope and fear in Brazil. Those who do not see him as their president are afraid that his government will become a militarist, that it will restrict rights (given several political proposals put forward in his campaign) and further aggravate social crises.
So, as the newspaper El País of Spain affirms, "It concludes a campaign marked by tension, disinformation in social networks and, above all, by Bolsonaro's anti-democratic attitudes. Their threats and diatribes lead the largest country in Latin America to uncertainty and reinforce the rise of the extreme right throughout the West. "
LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz
Translated from "Elecciones en Brasil: comienza la era de Jair Bolsonaro"
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